5 Best Ways to Beta Test Your App: Pros and Cons

Beta testing is an essential stage of mobile app development cycle. Only when hidden bugs and usability issues are found and fixed, and you’ve got a valuable feedback from your beta testers you can be sure that your app’s competitiveness is maximized and your money invested to app development are not wasted.

Who can beta test your app?

1. Family and friends

This is pretty obvious. If your friends and family members are familiar with your software their feedback can be very valuable.

Pros: you can obtain the results of testing as fast as possible and you don’t have to pay for it.

Cons: the quality of testing can be low because not all friends and family members are literate enough with computers or they don’t want to tell you truth to get you mad.

2. Competition participants

This is a great way to beta test your app. Choose an appropriate way of the competition and let all the participants prove that they can test your app at their best.

Pros: you can find really good testers and generate interest in your product. All participants can make your target audience, so it is also a free promotion.

Cons: not all testers can efficiently deal with their time, so if you have strict “deadlines”, you have to carefully check testers experience of doing their work timely and properly.

3. Your previous customers

It’s a good way. They are already familiar with your products, so they can make some valuable suggestions on how they see some improvements. If you provide interesting conditions of testing (e.g. for free), they are more likely to stay with you for further cooperation.

Pros: proven trust. Free testers who trust you and know the sort of products you create. Given a good enough deal, they will beta test your product as much as they can.

Cons: the same as in #2.

4. The same people always asking for improvements

Get in contact with all people who request different improvements and updates to your products they can be perfect testers.

Pros: they are already know how to make your product better, it can be the valuable experience.

Cons: asking for something is not always equal to wanting to do it, so make sure that they are properly motivated.

All of the above suggestions are for free beta testers and they can’t always provide you with the most reliable results of testing if you are working on a major project.

5. Paid Beta Testing

The most reliable and efficient way of testing. In this case testing is a service. You provide your app and receive comprehensive results in an agreed time frame.

Pros: betatesting is performed by experts according to the agreement, so the results will meet the highest standards.

Cons: paid method, so the price “tag” is not always acceptable.

If you want achieve the highest results then make sure to be ready to pay for beta testing. And remember: paid doesn’t mean too expensive.

If you want to find beta testers you trust and who charges in your price range please take a look at Ubertesters.